METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING STEERING COMPENSATION
Methods and systems are provided for controlling an electric power steering system. In one embodiment, a method includes: storing a compensation table having compensation values that are associated with motor torque drive values; receiving a current motor torque drive signal; determining a compensation action the current motor torque drive signal; determining a compensation value based on the compensation action and the table; and generating a motor torque drive signal based on the compensation value.
The present disclosure generally relates to steering systems of a vehicle, and more particularly relates to methods and systems for compensating a steering assist command to the steering system.
BACKGROUNDA steering system of a vehicle allows a driver to steer front wheels of the vehicle. The steering system may be an electric power steering system that uses an electric motor to provide a steering assist to a driver of the vehicle, thereby reducing effort by the driver in steering the vehicle.
In some cases, unwanted vibrations in the steering system may occur due to internal periodic excitation such as tire/wheel imbalance, tire irregularities, brake rotor imbalance and lack of precision piloting of the rotating members. These vibrations may cause discrepancies in the signals relied upon by the steering system. It is desirable to compensate for these discrepancies.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and systems for developing compensation values for steering assist. It is also desirable to provide methods and systems for controlling the steering system based on the compensation values. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.
SUMMARYMethods and systems are provided for controlling an electric power steering system. In one embodiment, a method includes: storing a compensation table having compensation values that are associated with motor torque drive values; receiving a current motor torque drive signal; determining a compensation action the current motor torque drive signal; determining a compensation value based on the compensation action and the table; and generating a motor torque drive signal based on the compensation value.
In one embodiment, a system includes an electric power steering system, a torque sensor associated with the electric power steering system, and a first module. The first module stores a compensation table having compensation values that are associated with motor torque drive values, receives a current motor torque drive signal, determines a compensation action the current motor torque drive signal, determines a compensation value based on the compensation action and the table, and generates a motor torque drive signal based on the compensation value.
The present disclosure will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and:
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the application and uses. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description. As used herein, the term module refers to any hardware, software, firmware, electronic control component, processing logic, and/or processor device, individually or in any combination, including without limitation: application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.
With reference to
As depicted in
As can be appreciated, the vehicle 100 may be any one of a number of different types of automobiles, such as, for example, a sedan, a wagon, a truck, or a sport utility vehicle (SUV), and may be two-wheel drive (2WD) (i.e., rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive), four-wheel drive (4WD) or all-wheel drive (AWD). The vehicle 100 may also incorporate any one of, or combination of, a number of different types of propulsion systems, such as, for example, a gasoline or diesel fueled combustion engine, a “flex fuel vehicle” (FFV) engine (i.e., using a mixture of gasoline and ethanol), a gaseous compound (e.g., hydrogen or natural gas) fueled engine, a combustion/electric motor hybrid engine, and an electric motor.
The steering system 112 includes a steering column 118 and a steering wheel 120. In various embodiments, the steering system 112 further includes various other features (not depicted in
In various embodiments, the steering system 112 is an Electric Power Steering system (EPS) that includes a motor 122 that is coupled to the steering system 112, and that provides torque or force to a rotatable or translational member of the steering system 112 (referred to as assist torque). The motor 122 can be coupled to the rotatable shaft of the steering column 118 or to the rack of the steering gear. In the case of a rotary motor, the motor 122 is typically connected through a geared or belt-driven configuration enabling a favorable ratio of motor shaft rotation to either column shaft rotation or rack linear movement. The steering system 112 in turn influences the steerable front road wheels 108 during steering based upon the assist torque received from the motor 122 along with any torque received from a driver of the vehicle 100 via the steering wheel 120.
The steering system 112 further includes one or more sensors that sense observable conditions of the steering system 112. In various embodiments, the steering system 112 includes a torque sensor 124 and a position sensor 126. The torque sensor 124 senses a rotational torque applied to the steering system by for example, a driver of the vehicle 100 via the steering wheel 120 and generates torque signals based thereon. The position sensor 126 senses a rotational position of the steering wheel 120 and generates position signals based thereon. The time derivatives of these signals, furthermore, provide additional information about the changing states of the vehicle. For instance, the derivative of the rotational position of the steering wheel 120, provides the rotational velocity. Various operational states of the vehicle are inferred by these signals and their derivatives to enable desired control compensation actions.
The control module 116 receives the sensor signals and controls operation of the steering system 112 based thereon. In general, the control module 116 generates control signals to the motor to control the amount of motor torque provided to the steering system 112. The control module 116 generates the control signals based on compensation actions that are determined according to compensation systems and methods of the present disclosure. Compensation actions can include, for example, but are not limited to, cessation of certain control actions (e.g., momentarily for fractions of a second, for multiple seconds, or sustained for many seconds depending on the state); modifying the parameters of the control functions; or combinations of the cessation and the modifying. The modifying of the control parameters, in turn, can include alteration of the gain and phase compensation parameters depending on the state of the controls. In general, the control module 116 applies the compensation values to a motor torque command value based on a frequency and the operational state of the vehicle 100 and steering system 112. The operational state of the vehicle 100 and the steering system 112 can be determined from signals received from the vehicle 100 and/or the steering system 112.
For example, as shown in
In various embodiments, the gain and phase compensation values are predetermined using compensation value determination methods and systems of the present disclosure. For example, as shown in
The signal modification module 130 receives an uncompensated control signal that requests a torque of the motor 122 from the control module 116 and generates a modified control signal based thereon. For example, the signal modification module 130 includes a dither generator that generates a dither signal and a combiner that combines (e.g., sums) the uncompensated control signal with the dither signal to generate a dithered control signal. The dithered control signal may be a superimposed sinewave signal that is generated at various frequencies. For example, the signal modification module 130 may vary the frequency based on dwell point testing, swept frequency testing, or other methods of varying the frequency. Dwell point testing, for example, holds the frequency constant for a brief period of time, increments the frequency, then holds again, and repeats until all desired frequencies are completed. Swept frequency testing, for example, continuously varies the frequency from a desired start to a desired end frequency at a slow rate of change of frequency. The rate of change of the frequency, furthermore, may be constant or, alternatively, may vary in order to achieve advantages in processing and interpretation. For example, the rate of change of frequency, may be proportional to the frequency in order to achieve even percentage changes in frequency over equal time periods.
The signal processing module 132 receives the uncompensated control signals from the control module 116 and torque signals that are generated by the torque sensor 124 during various steering maneuvers and processes the signals to determine the gain and phase compensation values. In general, the steering maneuvers produce data that represents continuous transient steering events that demand various amounts of motor torque. For example, the steering wheel 120 may be turned from left to right and right to left as the vehicle 100 is being driven at the speed X over a period of time Y.
Upon completion of the steering maneuvers, the signal processing module 132 processes the torque signals either offline or in realtime to determine the gain and phase compensation values. As shown in
With reference now to
As depicted in
Upon completion of the driving maneuvers for the time Y, the logged data is processed at 340 (e.g., either offline or in realtime). For example, based on the data, transfer functions are determined for various levels of torque drive (e.g., 0-8 A, 5-10 A, 8-12 A, 10-15 A, 15-20 A, etc.) as discussed above at 350. The data of the transfer functions are segmented based on the frequency ranges at 360. The segmented data is then evaluated at each frequency range to determine the relationship between the torque drive and the frequency as discussed above at 370. The compensation values are determined based on the relationships and a compensation table is populated at 380. Thereafter, the method may end at 390.
With reference now to
As depicted in
While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof.
Claims
1. A control method of controlling an electric power steering system, the control method comprising:
- storing a compensation table having compensation values that are associated with motor torque drive values;
- receiving a current motor torque drive signal;
- determining a compensation action the current motor torque drive signal;
- determining a compensation value based on the compensation action and the table; and
- generating a motor torque drive signal based on the compensation value.
2. The control method of claim 1, wherein the compensation action comprises modification of a control function.
3. The control method of claim 1, wherein the compensation action comprises cessation of a control action.
4. The control method of claim 1, wherein the cessation is momentarily.
5. The control method of claim 1, wherein the cessation is sustained.
6. The control method of claim 1, further comprising determining a change in system dynamics based on the motor torque drive signal, and wherein the determining the compensation action is based on the change in system dynamics.
7. The control method of claim 1, further comprises determining a compensation value of the compensation values based on an estimation method comprising:
- monitoring a torque drive signal to the electric power steering system;
- monitoring a torque sensor signal from a torque sensor of the electric power steering system; and
- estimating, by a processor, a compensation value based on a transfer function associated with the torque drive signal and the torque sensor signal.
8. The control method of claim 7, wherein the estimation method further comprises generating a modified torque drive signal to the electric power steering system, and wherein the monitoring the torque drive signal and the monitoring the torque sensor signal occurs during the generating the modified torque drive signal.
9. The control method of claim 8, wherein the generating the modified torque drive signal comprises generating a dithered control signal.
10. The control method of claim 9, wherein the generating the modified torque signal comprises generating the dithered control signal at various frequencies.
11. The control method of claim 7, wherein the estimation method further comprises determining a transfer functions for each of a plurality of levels of torque drive signal, and wherein the estimating comprises estimating a compensation value based on the transfer functions for the plurality of levels.
12. The control method of claim 11, wherein the estimation method further comprises segmenting data of the transfer functions based on a frequency range.
13. The control method of claim 12, wherein the estimation method further comprises evaluating the segmented data at the frequency range to determine a relationship between torque drive and frequency, and wherein the estimating the compensation value is based on the relationship.
14. The control method of claim 7, wherein the compensation value is at least one of a phase value and a gain value.
15. The control method of claim 7, wherein the estimation method further comprises populating the compensation table based on the compensation value.
16. The control method of claim 7, wherein the estimation method further comprises performing a steering maneuver while driving the vehicle a speed X for a period of time Y, and wherein the monitoring the torque drive signal and the monitoring the torque sensor signal occurs during the performing the steering maneuver.
17. The control method of claim 16, wherein the steering maneuver produces data that represents continuous transient steering events that demand various amounts of motor torque.
18. The control method of claim 16, wherein the steering maneuver includes steering from left to right and right to left as the vehicle is being driven at the speed X over the period of time Y.
19. A system, comprising:
- an electric power steering system;
- a torque sensor associated with the electric power steering system; and
- a first module that stores a compensation table having compensation values that are associated with motor torque drive values, that receives a current motor torque drive signal, that determines a compensation action the current motor torque drive signal, that determines a compensation value based on the compensation action and the table, and that generates a motor torque drive signal based on the compensation value.
20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:
- a second module that monitors a torque drive signal to the electric power steering system, that monitors a torque sensor signal from the torque sensor, that determines a compensation value based on a transfer function associated with the torque drive signal and the torque sensor signal, and that provides the compensation value to the first module.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 26, 2014
Publication Date: Dec 31, 2015
Inventors: KENNETH L. OBLIZAJEK (TROY, MI), JOHN D. SOPOCI (COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, MI)
Application Number: 14/316,594